Freddie Gibbs

When you go to places like Gary and Detroit, you see the economic problem in this country and who it's really affecting.

Every project might only sell like 30 to 50,000, but I mean, I'm getting seven, eight dollars every CD. I make more money per record than an artist on a major label - I can definitely say that.

A lot of improvisation and freedom went into 'Pinata.'

I always feel like the underdog.

I'm so hands-on and involved in my own music that I feel like if I put the same effort into another artist, then I can definitely cultivate something great.

I'm just glad we get to see old records being broken. That's what sports is all about.

I've been engulfed in sports since I was a 2-year-old; I picked up any kind of ball - a basketball, baseball, football - I just loved to play something. I loved the energy of being in arenas and watching the game on TV.

I'm not really comfortable with being on songs with cats I don't really know.

Madlib isn't a beatmaker, he's a producer.

I never write a song before I get the track because I just feel that I have to make a marriage with that track with my raps. And if it's something that's already there, it ain't gone really fit, I don't think.

I don't like pre-written raps; I think it makes the song better if you listen to the beat first. In a sense, you have to make a marriage with the beat. I ride the beat, hear the flow of the drums, get the melody of my flow, and then from that point, it's a process of what I want to say.

I love Lil Wayne. I grew up on the Hot Boyz.